Tuesday, 11 April 2017

The Border Security Force (BSF) has seized a huge consignment of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) from the Indo-Bangladesh border at Kaliachak in Malda district.

The 24th Battalion of the BSF has confiscated a bag of counterfeit notes of the new Rs 2000 notes worth Rs 6.96 lakhs in an ambush late on Monday night. The security agency carried out the operation at Gate Number 179 at the Chori-Anantapur border observation post (BOP) based on specific intelligence inputs. The BSF conducted the raid after receiving intelligence about movement of the consignment from across the border in Bangladesh into India.

When BSF officers reached the spot, they recovered a packet of notes which was apparently thrown inside Indian territory from the other side. The BSF has now launched a joint probe into the case along with the Malda police and other central agencies.

The raid comes just three days after the district police arrested a youth with fake currency notes worth Rs 1 lakh. The 26 year-old Amajuddin Sheikh was arrested by officers from Baishnabnagar police station with a consignment of 50 fake notes of the new 2000 denomination notes near National Highway 34. Similarly, earlier this month, two others were also nabbed from the same area by the police for carrying four fake Indian currency.

The Indo-Bangladesh border in Malda and Murshidabad district is infamous for being the fake currency hub of India. Recently, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, in a written reply to a query in Rajya Sabha, had informed that FICN worth Rs 14.76 lakh have been seized from the Malda district til then.